GOLF: The future of Irish golf has never been brighter, writes Philip Reid, who reports from a GUI squad session in Spain with some of our best.

You want to be Tiger Woods? Or simply a professional golfer traversing the globe in pursuit of some greenbacks? Stand in the queue, for the number of aspiring tour players grows by the year. To get there, though, demands a long and winding journey with pitfalls. And it requires more than raw talent, with mental toughness and increasingly physical regimes and dietary programmes as part of the robot-building process.

Of course, the journey starts in the amateur ranks. It's where talent is honed, and learning how to lose as much as how to win strengthens the mind. That's what it was like last week in La Cala, a resort in the south of Spain owned by the Irish insurance company FBD, where the next generation of Irish stars - there for the Golfing Union of Ireland's (GUI) national youths' and boys' coaching week - were given a taste of the future.

Sixteen players: 10 youths (over 18) and six boys. A week of rising at 6.30 a.m., catching a bus up the mountains and hitting off the first tee by eight o'clock. A week of playing and coaching and learning the rules, of watching video snippets of the game's top players and taking advice from coaches on the fundamentals. A week of listening and learning of what it takes to succeed.

And, after an exhausting week, physically and mentally, throw in a morning spent listening to Clare's All-Star hurler Dave Fitzgerald on how other top sportsmen prepare for their big day.

Irish golf, it seems, has never had it so good. Three players on the winning Ryder Cup team last year. Two players on the winning Walker Cup team two years ago. A British Amateur champion in that same period. And, as if to confirm that the future is bright, Cian McNamara - one of the select 16 on duty in La Cala - won the British Junior Open, and is the current Irish Boys champion to boot.

How have Irish players risen to conquer the world? The answer, in the main, comes from the grooming delivered by the GUI; and, even still, the quest is on to do things even better. Howard Bennett, who next month retires as the GUI's national coach after a decade and a half in the role, has seen talented players come and go, but he is especially enthusiastic about the current crop.

"People keep asking, do we have another Padraig Harrington? Or another Paul McGinley? Without naming names, and putting pressure on them, I believe we have. These are players with great potential," insisted Bennett.

Yet, talk to the players themselves and you get an answer as to who the next great hope is likely to be . . . the intriguing thing, however, is that the name is not the same and, in the selfish world of golf, it's invigorating to hear them nominate their peers.

"Gareth Shaw," says one. "Cian McNamara," says another. "Shane Gannon, just keeps improving," says someone. "Watch David Rawluk, he's come from nowhere," says another. "Aaron O'Callaghan," whispers someone, and his is a name that comes up time and time again.

All of which suggests you'd need eyes in the back of your head to see who is going to go on and fulfil expectations. One thing is for sure, though: Ireland's richly talented crop of young players are getting the chance to develop.

Bennett, for one, can see the way coaching structures have come on. "Fourteen years ago it was all a bit hit and miss," he claims. "That's not a criticism in any way, because we were doing the best we could at the time."

Things have progressed substantially, however. Training weeks such as the one in La Cala now kick-start the season for the bright young things of Irish golf. Yet, they've already spent coaching weekends throughout the winter which also entailed working with fitness personnel, nutritionists, sports psychologists and specialist club fitters.

One of the first things shown to the Irish boys' and youths' squads is a video of a young player by the name of Padraig Harrington. He was 17, and the object of the video - shown with Harrington's permission - is to show how a player can progress.

"It shows how Padraig's swing was at the time. Poor grip . . . poor posture . . . and a swing with a reverse pivot. But it shows players what is capable of happening, if they're willing to put in the work," says Bennett.

Another example used is that of Graeme McDowell. Five years ago, he was on the Irish team in the Boys' Home Internationals. Now, he is a former winning Walker Cup player who has a European Tour title in his CV and openings to play on the US Tour. The transition from bright-eyed junior to big tournament winner can happen so quickly.

"What we say to these young guys is that you don't get anywhere if you don't put the work in. I've always tried to instil in them that you have got to have the desire to do something. Call it the dream," says Bennett.

"Once you've got desire, you've got to have the attitude and, then, you've got to have the preparation. Desire, attitude, preparation - if you've got these, and you're working on the right thing, you will eventually succeed.

"Whether it is golf, or anything else in life, you have to have dreams. And if you dream, don't let anyone steer you away from it."

And these young golfers all have dreams, and - on the evidence of their work in La Cala - have an ethic, working from dawn to dusk, that hints of great things in the future. Indeed, in the actual competition played on the North and South courses over four days, it was one of the boys - Gareth Shaw from Lurgan, a 17-year-old with no weakness in his game - who emerged as the winner. In the short term, it is envisaged he will be a key member of the Britain and Ireland team in the Jacques Lèglise Trophy against the Continent of Europe this season; and that he won't be the lone Irishman on the team.

Of the young troop of players, McNamara has built up the biggest reputation, and he is only 16. "Cian's like Harrington in that he has got it in here," says Bennett, pointing to his chest. "With some players, you just know they have it inside."

For others, too, it is not just the deeds of professionals like Harrington, Clarke, McGinley and McDowell that inspire. It is what the country's top amateurs like Colm Moriarty and Justin Kehoe are also doing.

"We all feel it is time to move on to a different level," says Conor Doran, from Banbridge, who has won provincial junior championships - Leinster Youths' and Munster Boys' - in recent years. A professional career may be the dream, but the immediate challenge is to win major amateur titles.

But, in their thinking, they are so much like the professionals. Martin McTernan, now 19, and the Irish Boys' champion of 1999, is one of those considered to have a bright future in the game. This year, he will determine whether the season is a success or not by his stroke average - which is straight out of the professional psyche.

"We all have expectations and goals, but we're learning that you can't look too far ahead. Goals are important, but you've got to take it one shot at a time," he insists.

The mindset, though, is one of winning. And, as far as the next generation of Irish golfer is concerned, the future is not only bright: it is green. Young, ambitious and hungry, they're queuing up to follow in some famous footsteps.